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MARINE MODERN WRITTEN BY

C H E L S E A G R E E N WO O D

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

W H AT

B E N JA M I N WO O L S E Y

S TA RT E D

AS

A

SIMPLE

REMODEL

FOR

TYLER

E N G L E E V O LV E D I N T O S O M E T H I N G C O N S I D E R A B LY M O R E E X T E N S I V E — A N E A R LY F O U R - Y E A R P R O J E C T T H AT T H E ARCHITECT DESCRIBES AS

“MORE

T H A N A T E A R D O W N .”

His client loved her two-story home’s location in west Seattle, with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, but she wanted to tailor the residence to her outdoorsy lifestyle. “If we were to rebuild, it would have meant more extreme setbacks and a smaller house—a house that wasn’t what the client wanted,” says Engle, AIA, principal of Seattle’s Tyler Engle Architects PS. “So the house had to remain in its existing footprint.” Because the homeowner had worked with Engle before, she requested that he take a turnkey approach to the entire project, overseeing everything from the remodel to the interior design and landscaping. After reducing the structure to its exterior walls, and reinforcing the foundation and masonry, Engle rebuilt and reconfigured the home, resulting in a three-story Northwest modern house with a cubic stacking form that recalls the De Stijl movement of the 1920s. “It was truly an additive process,” Engle says. “Oftentimes architects prescribe a volume; in this case, we were working to unite it with detail.” To achieve that unity and downsize the scale of the massings, Engle employed a wrapping motif, like the windows that hug corners and the panels of marine anodized aluminum that soften angles.

ARCHITECTURE Tyler Engle, AIA, Tyler Engle Architects PS INTERIOR DESIGN Tyler Engle, Tyler Engle Architects PS HOME BUILDER Stan Christensen, Christensen Construction LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Tyler Engle, Tyler Engle

Architects PS, and Tim Moshier, Cambium Inc. BEDROOMS 2

BATHROOMS 3

SQUARE FEET 3,541

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C O N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 173

To counter the narrow lot, Engle oriented the home toward westerly views, incorporating expansive exterior windows and accordion glass

FENCED IN

doors, as well as interior windows that provide vistas from landlocked

A motorized car gate, part of the

ON DISPLAY

Western red cedar fence, provides a

A custom built-in serves both

rooms. “The house closes down to the neighbors to the east and opens

private entry and hints at the various

as a display case and a room

up to the view to the west in every room,” he says.

partitions throughout the property

divider. “The separation

that open up to maximize functionality

between living and dining is

and flow among spaces.

meant to provide definition

In fact, “closed yet open” is a theme repeated throughout the home.

that there’s a different room,

“This is a belief of mine from having lived and worked in Europe and

but it’s one room,” says

traveling in Japan: Things don’t have to be closed or open. They can be

architect Tyler Engle.

open and closed.” Take, for example, the first floor: The media room, bedroom and bathroom can be cordoned off with a steel partition to create a guest suite. “Multifunctional space and the way you partition it off in flexible ways makes it work for many different functions,” Engle says.

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C O N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 174

The same philosophy applies to the second floor “outdoor room,” which has a skylight and becomes an alfresco sanctuary via sliding shoji-like screens. Other practical spaces include the dog room and dog run; kayak storage; and

FINE DINING

an outdoor shower and a mudroom, creating a transition between two of

The social heart of the home, as well as the

the owner’s loves, Mother Nature and a spotless home.

owner’s favorite space, the kitchen centers on a granite-topped island and features

In developing the interior architecture, Engle also took the client’s STEPPING UP

museum-quality art collection into consideration, creating niches and

The three-story staircase—as

lighting to showcase her vintage photographs, African artifacts and

well as its oak treads—echoes the wrapping motif that Engle

cabinets in custom-stained rift white oak that conceal fixtures from Albert Lee Appliance. Metro tiles by Ann Sacks provide a pop of color on the backsplash.

Northwestern glass art.

utilized inside and out. A sconce from Cottage Electric spotlights

For the interior design, Engle says the intent was “contexturalism,” as he

a small ceramic sculpture by

looked to the home’s setting for inspiration. The gray-brown stain of the

Joy Brown.

kitchen cabinets resembles the hue of a Douglas fir, Spinneybeck leather

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PRIVATE TIME

On the nonview side of the home, the office and adjoining outdoor room (with moveable screens) provide a warm sanctuary lit by Holly Hunt, Artemide and Akara lamps. A pair of Roda rockers faces the custom built-in desk and daybed, grounded by a Tufenkian rug.

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on a banquette is very nearly the color of kelp, and the gray granite on the kitchen island recalls the “color of Puget Sound when boats come

FIRE IT UP

through it,” Engle says. “This is not a house in New York. This is not a

In the tradition of Northwest beach

house in Miami. This is a house in Seattle.”

campfires, Royal Botania chairs surround an Extremis firepit, facing Engle’s mandmade berm and Puget

With the help of landscape architect Tim Moshier, principal of Cambium

Sound beyond. Blocks of concrete,

Inc. in Seattle, Engle also infused a bit of Eastern influence into the land-

resembling driftwood logs, provide additional seating.

scaping, including Japanese maples and hinoki, as well as a sculptural water feature that pays homage to Isamu Noguchi. On the inside of a bulkhead, he created an artificial berm of blue oat grass with three rocks that “echo three islands you see in Puget Sound,” Engle says. Reminding the viewer that this is a house in Seattle—and nowhere else. L

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MODERN ECLECTIC The cantilevered steel staircase is flanked by a built-in banquette, upholstered in Spinneybeck perforated leather, and a wall niche showcasing the owner’s African mask. “There’s a lot of eclecticism here, but it’s still very modern and crisp,” Engle says.